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Chinese gaming companies - seeking international mPayment support

Published — July 22 2013

Chinese gaming companies - seeking international mPayment support

China is becoming very important for remote mobile payment businesses. One reason is more than obvious: China is the world's largest digital market with the most online users. According to our APAC BDM, Ilija Krklec, the current growth of Chinese PC and online gaming market is more than expected. While these companies gained strength from local dominance, in recent years they are looking at international markets and into global mobile payment support. This presents a huge opportunity widely recognised by different mobile payment companies. Our business development exec Stefan Kostic explains: “Chinese publishers were up until recently very focused on Chinese speaking users, which means mostly China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The latest trend represents a rapid growth in number of companies who wish to go international. For example, after acquiring Riot Games in 2011, last summer Tencent invested $330 million in Epic Games. This way the Chinese gaming giants gain speed, user base and knowledge from international markets. However, many feel intimidated due to insufficient resources and experience. Our aim is to facilitate their ambitions and help them monetise their products.” Why is global mobile payment support important for the Chinese gaming industry? Data shows that mobile payments are gaining popularity across different demographic groups all around the world. At this pace, by 2015 mobile payments will account for more than 30% of the digital goods revenue.

Back at the Chinese market, mobile payments are yet to be widely adopted among game players. Some of the market characteristics positively effecting mobile payments future in China are smart phone penetration (reaching 66% in 2013 according to research by Nielsen), a large number of device manufacturers and a huge pool of potential mobile payments users. Mr Krklec further explains the current situation.

“At the moment, e-Wallets like Alipay and prepaid cards are the dominant payment method for digital goods. But, the future of mobile payments in China is very bright. China is expected to be the number 1 market in a couple of years. Most international payment providers realise that and some of them are already establishing local entities in China. Having a glocal approach in mind, Infobip established local entities in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Soon we will be appearing in China as well. This way we will bring Infobip’s international experience and services directly to local partners.”

Infobip will be exhibiting at this year’s China Joy. Feel free to contact our experts and schedule a meeting. See you in Shanghai from 25 - 27 July.

We connect mobile operators to online merchants and game developers, turning their existing users into paying customers.